As the title basically states, "Spy Kids" is aimed at children, but
it's also very entertaining for adults. Which makes it something of a
pity that Dimension Home Video's DVD release has virtually no extras. A
commentary track, a making-of documentary, some words by
writer-producer-director Robert Rodriguez would have been very welcome;
kids wouldn't have cared, and adults would have gotten more out of the
disc, which is otherwise up to today's standards.

One of the surprise hits of 2001 (a sequel is in production), "Spy
Kids" seemed way out of character for Rodriguez; he roused attention
with "El Mariachi," extremely cheap but very entertaining. He followed
it up with "Desperado," the first sequel to "El Mariachi" (he recently
completed a second), and the flamboyant, all-stops-out vampire action
thriller "From Dusk Till Dawn." He seemed established as a director of
action/horror -- and then he made "Spy Kids." In this case, saying the
made it is more true than for most directors; Rodriguez edited the
movie (as he usually does), wrote it, produced it, acted as camera
operator and sound re-recording mixer, supervised the visual effects
and even wrote some of the music.

In interviews at the time of its release, he said that despite what he
was known for, he always wanted to make a light, funny adventure movie
for kids. He really succeeded; kids absolutely adored the movie, and
this would be a good Christmas present for almost any child between 8
and 14. (Over that, and they would not consider it cool, even if they
actually liked it.)

Unusually, "Spy Kids" is well-structured but the story itself won't
exactly hold your interest; it's more a matter of a premise being
fulfilled than a solid story being told. Carmen Cortez (Alexa Vega),
who seems to be about 11, and her impulsive younger brother Juni (Daryl
Sabara) are sure that their parents Gregorio (Antonio Banderas) and
Ingrid (Carla Gugino), however kind, are basically pretty boring, just
like all parents.

What the kids don't know (but we do) is that they were international
spies for different countries, whose paths crossed often enough until
they fell in love and got married. (We see this in flashback.) They're
still kind of in the spy game, and Gregorio is concerned that other
agents are disappearing. They have "Uncle" Felix (Cheech Marin) come
over to watch the two kids while they take off on a mission in their
car that converts to a submarine, but they're promptly captured.

The bad guys are Fegan Floop (Alan Cumming), whose TV show "Floop's
Floogies" is very popular (especially with an unsuspecting Juni); he's
assisted by his minion Mr. Minion (Tony Shalhoub), and reports to Mr.
Lisp (Robert Patrick), some kind of international villain. He wants an
army of robots to help him conquer the world, or something, but doesn't
like Floop's Thumb Thumbs, robots with thumbs for legs, arms AND heads.
"They're all thumbs," Floop admits, while ushering in his alternate
idea: robots in the shape of children -- in this case, Lisp's children,
but they can look like any kids. All he needs to make them perfect is
one last doodad. (The robots are named "Spy Kids" but we know who the
real spy kids are.)

At the Cortez home, black-clad figures attack, and Felix quickly
explains to the kids that their parents are secret agents. "My parents
can't be spies!" exclaims Carmen. "They're not cool enough!" However,
she and Juni escape in a peculiar little submarine, which takes them --
after some adventures -- to a safe house on an island, which is
wonderfully equipped. To their surprise, Ms. Gradenko (Teri Hatcher)
arrives, claiming to be their parents' ally, but she's a villain, too.

Things get pretty wild from here on, with Carmen grabbing a Flash
Gordon-like rocket belt, rescuing Juni, and landing them in a city.
There they meet their Uncle Isadore (Danny Trejo, playing a good guy
for once) and battle spy kid robot duplicates of themselves. Finally,
they end up at Floop's island fortress, where lots more stuff happens.

"Spy Kids" is very briskly paced; there's hardly a slow moment in it,
and when there is, Rodriguez parodies it (Juni's behavior on the way to
the safe house, for example). It's also astonishingly colorful, one of
the most vividly designed movies of any sort in quite some time.
Rodriguez wanted to give the family a Latino background instead of the
standard WASP origins, so production designer Cary White created a
beautiful hacienda with richly-colored walls and furniture. Floop's
fortress is flamboyant, but is one of the few areas where the film's
only-adequate budget shows -- it's not quite as grandiose as was
clearly intended.

The movie is ripe with special effects, including elaborate makeups for
the disappeared secret agents, whom Floop has turned into
comic/grotesque characters for his TV series. The effects are
remarkably consistent; a lot of movies these days (the Harry Potter
film is a perfect example) have effects that vary in quality of
execution. The effects in "Spy Kids" are all on precisely the same
level (competent to good), and also match Rodriguez' lively, even
flamboyant, visual touches. (Fast motion, whip pans, etc.) The
cinematography by Guillermo Navarro is as bright and colorful as the
production design. It's a very unified movie, clearly just the film
Rodriguez wanted to make.

The sound is perfectly acceptable, though the surround speakers only
kick in briefly, as when something flies in from the left or right; the
rest of the time, the sound is confined to the more central speakers.

Generally speaking, the cast is excellent; Banderas and Gugino enter
into things with great spirit and verve (and just a little wink at the
audience); Alan Cumming is fun as the villain who learns the error of
his ways; Robert Patrick is full of amusing bluster, but the great Tony
Shalhoub is short-changed by a role that doesn't challenge him. Teri
Hatcher, as usual, overdoes things a bit, and her return toward the end
wasn't really necessary, nor is she funny in these scenes. George
Clooney, however, is pretty amusing in his end-of-the-movie cameo. (He
apparently asked Rodriguez to be included somehow.)

The movie, though, rests on the shoulders of Alexa Vega and Daryl
Sabara. Vega's been acting since she was literally two years old, and
she's very good here; dreamily melancholy at the beginning, tough as
nails in the action scenes -- just exactly everything Carmen should be.
And she's a good match with the moon-faced Daryl Sabara, who's a little
less professional, but still fun as the curious, impatient Juni. Both
are in the sequel.

As mentioned above, there simply are no extras to speak of on this
otherwise well-produced DVD. There are language choices and a couple of
trailers, but really, a movie as unusual and refreshing as "Spy Kids"
needed classier treatment. Robert Rodriguez surprised everyone with his
movie, both in terms of how entertaining it is, and for how much money
it made. It would have been very interesting to know more about how he
developed the film and really, why he moved so far away from what he'd
been doing. "Spy Kids" is good enough to have warranted fuller
treatment on the DVD -- but the kids at whom the movie was aimed will
just be glad to have their own copy.